THE Ministry of Health and Medical Services (MHMS) says it remains grateful towards the continuous support of the Solomon Forest Association (SFA) to both operational and development aspirations of the ministry.
This is not the first, SFA has in the past-donated medical consumables including for COVID-19 operations and many more.
Yesterday, health welcomes yet again another significant donation of cheque payment worth $152,059 made by SFA to Island Enterprise to complete remaining outstanding payment for a two-container size medical laboratory for Good Samaritan Hospital, Guadalcanal Province.
In handing over the cheque, President of SFA, Johnny Sy said that the association has been informed of the work that is currently underway at Good Samaritan and thus decided to help.
“We understand that the ministry is working hard in terms of the current COVID-19 response and roll out of COVID-19 vaccines, thus there is no doubt that resources let alone financial resources will also be stretched.
“With this, SFA has decided to support the work with the Laboratory at the Good Samaritan Hospital,” Sy said.
MHMS Deputy Secretary for Health Services Dr Gregory Jilini who witnessed the handing over, explained that medical laboratories perform a very crucial function to assist in the diagnosis and appropriate treatment of diseases
“So basically for the 39,000 people within the catchment area of the Good Samaritan Hospital, the new medical laboratory would essentially mean no more waiting for their blood samples to be transported to the National Referral Hospital for analysis along-side many other blood analysis of in and out patients at the referral hospital,” Jilini said.
“Once the lab becomes functional, all blood tests will be conducted at Good Samaritan Hospital and results swiftly communicated to the doctor who can then advise on treatment,” he added.
“A significant development that is in progress and will now be made possible sooner than expected with the donation received today.”
Dr Jilini added the contribution will also gear towards overall goal of the ministry in its Role Delineation Plan to upgrade its facilities across the country to meet the required quality and standards to achieve Universal Health Coverage whereby Solomon Islanders can have access to health services they need, when and where they need them without any financial hardship”.
—MHMS
